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Newman, did you lose any CRS I know you have some SSS. What do you use to remineralize you water?? Try Shirakura CA+ liquid minerals I get gH 6 and TDS 150-155.Just don’t know what happened when I filled Amazonia everything went nuts. My gH went down TDS went up

I did lose 2 CRSs when i started to mess around the substrate in planting my plants. Never do this. kicks up too much garbage from the deep substrate and i guess the SSS are sensitive to the ammonia, sulfur, or w/e else is toxic to them. I lost one shrimp every time i disturbed the substrate. each time it happened on the day following the planting(one shrimp was lost). Disturbing the substrate is very dangerous. I'm not planting anything anymore luckily, so i shouldn't lose anyone anymore.

My current TDS is 171ppm and i still have to check my GH. probably 5dGH.
I use Mosura Mineral plus to remineralize. once i run out of it i'm going to try something else, like what you suggested.

So from all of this I learned that I need to let the tank cycle forever and my pH will be in the 6-6.5 range. I donít have good tap water and all I can get is r/o or distilled water. Why canít we get good substrate for shrimp in this country? My wife wonít let me have the temporary holding tank for more than 2months b/c it is sitting on the counter top in the kitchen. So I hope the tank will be ready on day 60.Plamski, How long do you wait till you put shrimp in Amazonia?Thank you.

I feel you for sure. I am using new amazonia too and it is nice and all but I hope that next time I do a tank I can buy BW, Benibachi or Shirakura soil. I really hope they become available soon because they sound great.

12-09-2012 03:18 PM

plamski

Amazonia has a lot of plant nutritions probably that why TDS is up.
It will be OK lather on. I always have GH 5 and more with TDS 150.

12-09-2012 03:32 AM

jczernia

Newman, did you lose any CRS I know you have some SSS. What do you use to remineralize you water?? Try Shirakura CA+ liquid minerals I get gH 6 and TDS 150-155.Just donít know what happened when I filled Amazonia everything went nuts. My gH went down TDS went up

12-09-2012 02:54 AM

Newman

I know you're not asking me but i introduced my shrimp after 6 weeks or so.
BTW I lowered my TDS recently because 250+ was too high. My tank is now at 160TDS and about 4dGH. I'm hoping i can get it to 5dGH somehow..

12-09-2012 12:42 AM

jczernia

So from all of this I learned that I need to let the tank cycle forever and my pH will be in the 6-6.5 range. I donít have good tap water and all I can get is r/o or distilled water. Why canít we get good substrate for shrimp in this country? My wife wonít let me have the temporary holding tank for more than 2months b/c it is sitting on the counter top in the kitchen. So I hope the tank will be ready on day 60.Plamski, How long do you wait till you put shrimp in Amazonia?Thank you.

12-08-2012 06:34 PM

plamski

For me test shrimps die off start after 20th day after introdusing.50 days after tanks were setup.

12-08-2012 03:34 PM

hedge_fund

I agree on the fact that Amazonia needs to cycle for a while. Both my friend and I set up new Amazonia tanks at the same time. I have no deaths and I plopped my shrimp in after 30 days. On the other hand, my friend lost every single one of his shrimp...all 12 CRS. I still cannot determine what the issue is and I used all my test kits to check. The parameters look great in his tank but all the shrimp keep dying. So yeah, everyone's experiences will be different but I would suggest that you cycle your tank for a while....or throw in some test shrimp for 2 weeks.

12-08-2012 03:01 PM

plamski

I have spectra pure RO/DI unit.PH come 6.8 from it. After 4-5 days in the bucket water PH become 4.8-5.2-I don't know why. Buckets have lids and there is no way CO2 to go there. Probably something with our water chemistry.
TB's are in 3 tanks .One with Africana. One with Malaya-only this one left from total of 4 the rest Malaya get muddy on 3th day. One With Africana where UGF is and the rest of the tank is with Amazonia New.
For me Amazonia New need to sycle at least 2-3 months. Otherwise shrimps are dying.
Parameters are in track 30 days after setup but somehow shrimps can't make it.
I proved to myself with Tigers, CRS SS+ and TB's.
The tank with Amazonia is the newest one but PH is highest from all 3.
I can lower PH with Eheam Peat moss with 1.00 count easy. Golf size bag in the filter hold PH down for
+- 45 days.

12-08-2012 06:19 AM

jczernia

How did you lower you pH?? How are you bringing your pH up?? What substrate do you use with your TBís??I donít think one has anything to do with the other. Low TDS means your water is clean and has little dissolved solids low pH is acidic water. My CRS SSS bread like rabbits in low pH 5.6-5.8 at one time I had 16 females berried. I had dieing adults but ton of babies that I did not see, I found 6 panda/ BKK While breaking down my tank it took me 6hr to fish all the babies from the moss.ďNow ADA is like stiff mud at the bottom and 50-60% whole grain in 1cm at the top.
I'll stop UGF tomorrow and will add prefilter sponge to the outtake. Hopefully bacteria die-off wonít kill tigers.Ē Your filter will have bacteria you should be ok and the stuff in the substrate wonít die that quick. That is why I only did like 30% UGF in the tank.

12-08-2012 05:32 AM

plamski

For crystals now I have PH 5.1-5.3 because of bad PH meter I lower it and now I'm slowly going to 6.1-6.3. GH 5-5.5 TDS from 170 to 190.
I still can't figure it out for low PH do I need low TDS or opposite?!?!!?
What about PH in top range let say PH6.8 do we have to keep low or high TDS?
TB's are in PH5.2 TDS 145-155 GH4.5-5 .Tigers PH 6.3-6.5 GH 6-7 TDS 200-220
In 15 gal long I did 1/3 from one side with zigzag back-front-back.3" between pipes.
Now ADA is like stiff mud at the bottom and 50-60% whole grain in 1cm at the top.
I'll stop UGF tomorrow and will add prefilter sponge to the outtake. Hopefully bacteria die-off won’t kill tigers.

12-08-2012 03:34 AM

jczernia

Plamski I was hoping to hear from you where did you get your 15G?? The 15g tank I have is only 24Ē long and your UGF is 45Ē??.My 20g UGF is 20Ē long and about 5Ē wide it covers the back 1/3 or less of the tank.I did not connect the UGF to my canister I want the water to clear up a bit before I take it out from my temporary holding tank. I had to fill temporary tank with water from my 20 to hold the shrimp while the Amazonia goes through the cycles.Plamski where is your ph,gh, tds??

12-08-2012 03:01 AM

plamski

How long is your UGF ?
In my 15gal with 20" long UGF Africana and Malaya last less than 8 months .Filter is Eheim 2213 + 2x Jagno. In other 2 15gal with 45" long UGF the same substrates are 14 months already and they will last 6 more at least. We need to have long pipes or very low water flow in order to keep ADA strong. My UGF is covered with 1.5" of Matrix ,Substrate is 2-2.5"

12-08-2012 02:40 AM

Newman

I have mostly just chocolate shrimp in that tank along with very few SSS crystal reds.
I also would want that 150TDS but was pretty dumb to use tap water. idk what hit me that day lol!
I do know that my tap water has an obscene amount of phosphates which probably accounts for most of that TDS being above the 150ppm range i am shooting for.
I use mosura mineral plus as my remineralizer.

12-08-2012 02:31 AM

jczernia

Newman, what kind of shrimp do you have??? I like my CRS to be in 150-175 TDS gH of 6“then i switched out 50% of it with liquid rock tap water for some reason. that brought my TDS up to 240ppm”
you don’t know what is in your tap water so that could be why your TDS is at 257. I like to use distilled water and remineralize it to where I want it gH 6 TDS 150 +/-. But thank you for your help

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